The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn

Left Out

A blistering narrative exposé of infighting, skulduggery and chaos in Corbyn's Labour party

A stunningly good book with jaw-dropping revelations on every page, Left Out is the ultimate inside story of how Jeremy Corbyn went from the brink of victory to one of the worst defeats in British political history. It is both a breath-taking work of political journalism and a gripping first draft of history that is unlikely ever to be bettered. Unquestionably the political book of the year

An outstanding, balanced account of the Corbyn leadership from 2017-2019. My one tip? Don't read it late, you won't be able to sleep because of the anger

Deeply reported ... reads like a thriller ... one of the more riveting stories in modern British political history ... told with panache and pace ... Gossip aside, Left Out delivers a piercing analysis of the pressures on Labour's leadership as the party broke on the rocks of Brexit

Brimming with such jaw-dropping moments, forensically gleaned from interviews with virtually all the leading characters from this extraordinary political period ... entertaining and immensely readable ... the scars and grudges, captured magnificently by Pogrund and Maguire, are still fresh ... The authors don't attempt to take sides ... instead they give ample space to both sides ... to allow readers to make up their own minds ... as sensational a tale as any TV drama ... one of the most remarkable periods in British political history, and Left Out is an objective, fact-packed and fascinating record of it

It really is every bit as good as people say; superbly written, exceptionally detailed, scrupulously fair, but above all gripping. It's hard to put down

Meticulous and even-handed  ... The book's detailed accounts of tension, fallings-out and the ingrained fondness for factional warfare on all sides of the Labour party often rock along

Both a dark thriller and a farce ... admirably objective ... I have not read an account of the immediate past that is as thorough and balanced as that produced by Pogrund and Maguire ... [they] open all the previously sealed doors that were installed to protect the fragile leader

There are many eye popping revelations in Left Out, the definitive post mortem of the Corbyn project

Full of good stories [and] genuine insights ... well told and instructive ... In their excellent epilogue the authors draw back the lens and offer a calm and acute analysis of the Corbyn Project

One of the most absorbing and compulsive reads I have encountered in years ... Only by drawing on a huge range of willing sources could Pogrund and Maguire have produced such a rich narrative. It is to their immense credit that they produced such an amusing one

A must-read for any Labour supporter who wants to know more about what went on behind the scenes ... whatever your factional allegiance ... its central theme is a truthful one

Highly readable ... meticulously researched

Maguire and Pogrund have, I am certain, spoken off the record to almost everyone who mattered on both sides of Labour's civil war ... a huge and detailed trove of revelations

A detailed account... [Left Out] contain[s] thoughtful observations that prompt wider questions about power and leadership, friendship and loyalty, solidarity and the capacity to engage people beyond your own camp.

Gabriel Pogrund (Author) Gabriel Pogrund is Whitehall Editor at the Sunday Times. He was named Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards (2023). He won Scoop of the Year at the London Press Club Awards (2022) and was the Laurence Stern Fellow at the Washington Post in 2018. Patrick Maguire (Author) Patrick Maguire is a political columnist for The Times and senior political correspondent for Times Radio. He is a regular commentator on Labour politics for TV and radio and won the 2016 Anthony Howard Award for Young Journalists.

'THE POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR' Tim Shipman 
 
A blistering narrative exposé of infighting, skulduggery and chaos in Corbyn's Labour party, now revised and updated. 
 
* A Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and i Newspaper Book of the Year * 
 
Left Out tells, for the first time, the astonishing full story of Labour's recent transformation and historic defeat. 
 
Drawing on unrivalled access, this blistering exposé moves from the peak of Jeremy Corbyn's popularity and the shock hung parliament of 2017 to Labour's humbling in 2019 and the election of Keir Starmer. It reveals a party at war with itself, and puts the reader in the room as tensions boil over, sworn enemies forge unlikely alliances and lifelong friendships are tested to breaking point. 
 
This is the ultimate account of the greatest experiment seen in British politics for a generation. 
 
'Gripping... Every bit as good as people say' Guardian 
 
'Reads like a thriller...told with panache and pace' Financial Times 
 
'The definitive post-mortem of the Corbyn project' Sunday Times

Gabriel Pogrund

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